TIJUANA & MEXICALI, Mexico (fivb.org) – Iran thrashed the six-time champions Brazil 3-1 Tuesday, taking a huge step in the race for a berth in the semifinals of the Boy's Youth World Championship.

The first set began with the Iranian power that let the Asian champions surprisingly top Brazil 8-3 through the spikes of Motjaba Qiassi and Farhad Qaemi.
After that Brazilians had a positive reaction thanks to spikes and services of Mauricio Silva to short the distance 9-10. Then Iran Alireza Jadidi and his blocking were outstanding and the Asian team was completely dominant 16-10 also by the defense of libero Golmohammad Sakhavi. Iran insisted with good attack tools and won easily the set 25-15.
The second set was a very tough one for Brazil as Iran players improved even more their block and attack, but the champions also have their weapons through Aurelio Figuereido and Levi Cabral to lead 8-3 and 16-9.
The sets of captain Murilo Radke also cooperated with the South American team, until Iran tried to destroy the receiving of their opponent by strong well-aimed serves shorting the difference 17-16. But Brazilians could regenerate their teamwork quickly and took the set 25-22.
Like the previous set this third was again led by the South American team 8-6 with Guilherme Koepp and Isac Santos in the court. But Iran and the force of Qaemi draw 8-8 and continued determinate to succeed coming from behind to lead 16-14. The match entered into an emotional period with a rally of draws in 17, 18, and 19 points until Brazil lead 22-20 with a great spike of Tiago Wesz. Showing strong spirit Iran draw in 24, 25, and 26 and won the set 28-26.
But Brazilians tried hard save the match and go to a tiebreaker. This set went much tied until Iran led 8-7 and 13-10. Then Brazilian coach Antonio Lerba tried to wake up his players without luck because Iran still led 16-13. Brazil was living a nightmare and nothing changed as the Asian team reached the match point and won 25-20.
Argentina handed India their first defeat in four matches, winning 3-1 (37-39, 25-21, 25-22, 25-21) in 105 minutes.
The South American team of Juan Cichello played a great match in the first day of second round in Pool E, delighting the fans that gathered at the Tijuana's hall. The best scorer of the encounter was Singh Mandeep with 22 points, while Facundo Conte made 20 for his colors. India was the only team unbeaten so far in the World Championship until they met Argentina.
In other exciting match of Pool F, a fired-up France overpowered Poland in a grueling hard-fought five-set thriller 3-2 (25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 21-25, 15-10). France, which traditionally depends on the quick combination play and fighting spirit of his enthusiastic players, showed today a good defense too strong for the towering Polish players.
The main scorer of this match was Earwin Ngapeth with 22 points and also Maciej Krzywiecki from Poland had an outstanding performance with 12 points.  
China also started with the right foot this second round in Group F, after thrashing Belgium in four sets in a match that lasted 91 minutes. The fast Chinese still lived up to their head coach Li Mu’s expectation as they eventually beat the Belgium side 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18. Belgium player Van Den Dries was the best scorer with 20 points.  
Meanwhile, in Mexicali Pool G saw Puerto Rico and USA registered good victories in the championship, with the Caribbean brushing off the African champions Egypt in three sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-17) in 74 minutes. At the same time, host Mexico had a tougher task against USA when they struggled hard to power past the in-form rivals in a closely-contested five-set encounter 23-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 15-13 in 116 minutes.  
In Pool H, Germany claimed their third win in the championship through a thriller five-set victory over Cuba, after utilizing their height advantage and power at the net to win 18-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-13, 15-13 in 102 minutes.
Finally defending world champion Russia, that is having a disappointing campaign and will play only for the 9-16 position, managed to win African Tunisia in three sets 25-23, 25-17, 25-19 in 64 minutes with Artem Volvich as best scorer with 13 points